You run your game's rules and GM moves to the letter, and that gives players story authority whatever their characters can do. They name factions, frame scenes, help decide who did it. Failure always drives the story, with clear stakes.
In story games, players hold the authority. They trigger flashbacks, a success can win narrative control, and the GM often doesn't roll. Ben Robbins's test: your power over events doesn't hinge on your character's fictional ability.
What you do well
- Players share ownership of the story.
- Stories that no one could write alone.
- Clear stakes are set before every roll, so failing leads somewhere interesting.
Where your style trips
Softness creeps in: no hard moves, gentle scenes, and the heist becomes a two-hour planning meeting.
The fix: If players offer a golden opportunity, make your game's hard move. Start mid-heist. Flashbacks can cover the plan.
Things to practice
- Before a campaign, try its tone out in a one-shot.
- So you get to play, rotate who runs the game.
- For each front, ask yourself "what happens if the players do nothing?"
Who you'll click with
Players who lean Storyteller, Method Actor tend to love your table. Tactician, Casual Gamer players may need some conversation first. Most players span several of Robin D. Laws's player types.
How to prep
Prep fronts: two or three threats, each with an impulse, a countdown clock and a do-nothing outcome. Write questions for the table to settle.
Pitch your table with these
- On screen
- Ocean's 11, Sneakers, Cowboy Bebop, Annihilation
- Actual play
- Austin Walker (Friends at the Table): writer's room methods, player-made factions, heists with flashbacks, epilogues written together.
- Games
- Blades in the Dark, Apocalypse World, Brindlewood Bay, Fate
A culture of play describes a table, so one 5e group could sit in two cultures on two Tuesdays. From John Bell's "Six Cultures of Play".
Terms on this page: Clock, Front, Story games